Jeremy says the release of April housing statistics shows Hamilton’s residential property market is trending normally at the start of 2017.

“We’ve been waiting until April property statistics were released by the Real Estate Institute of New Zealand to see how Hamilton’s residential property market is behaving alongside historical trends.

“With statistics out in mid May it is now apparent that this year should behave normally, in line with historic trends.

“As with most other years, the city had very few sales in January, a bounce-back in sales volumes for February, a very big March and now a decrease in sales for April.

“This is a very normal trend. And from these numbers we are now projecting that it is unlikely we’ll experience any surprising highs or lows in Hamilton’s residential property market this year,” said Jeremy.

The number of homes sold in Hamilton was down from 337 in March figures to 240. The city’s median house price during April was $535,000, compared with $540,750 in March and $458,000 in April 2016.

Jeremy says buyers remain very confident in the Hamilton market and he expects this positivity should continue through the end of the year.

“Although confident, we are seeing Hamilton buyers are also more cautious in the Hamilton residential housing market. They are prudent and measured in their approach.

“What this means on the buyer’s side is that vendors who are listing homes at overly ambitious sale prices are often being overlooked.

“If a home is listed at an unrealistic price, it’s not unusual for potential buyers to completely discount that property including skipping open homes. This measured approach by Hamilton buyers means some sellers are having to adjust their price expectations downward somewhat,” he explained.